Don’t forget I’m not posting here anymore. Change your links to http://www.pyjammy.com. Thanks!

Weekends, they are no longer the relaxing things they once were. I won’t expound on that, Linda over at All & Sundry does a much better job of it.

But it was a fun weekend, at least. Really fun. I took the boys to Ren’s house where we hung out with her girls and Kristie, who was in town visiting family. So they had more kids to play with, and a whole house to explore. Full of toys! Fun! And buttons to push! Gaaaah! Buttons!!!

And Elmo to watch!

They had haircuts, too. Oliver before:

Oliver after being butchered.

Me and my boys:

Aunt Renny has Cookie Crisp at her house. She is the best!

We went to Barnes & Noble at one point, where we gave the kids chocolate chip cookies.

Miles enjoyed his:

Hanging out with Chloe:

And I think for the next few posts, I’ll answer one question from the Question Post at the end of every entry. Here is today’s:

Amymarie asks:

I wonder where you get all your baby ’stuff’. Do you buy it new…or do you get stuff from multiple networks, or a combo? I just can’t imagine buying three of everything (like the recent picture of the boys in the water toys).

Let’s see…well, when they were teeny, a lot of it was gifts from my baby showers. Also, I have very kind friends who loaned me a lot of equipment like swings and bouncy seats and such. Since the boys were born right before Christmas, we got a lot of clothes for them then, too. (Since we didn’t find out what we were having beforehand, I didn’t have a ton of clothes for them before they were born.)

Now, I get their clothes from consignment sales, clearance racks, and a lot is from a BBB triplet clothing exchange group I belong to. And my mom and sister like to buy them clothes too. And I buy at the end of the season for the following year, so a lot of the stuff they’re wearing now is from a super awesome sale Old Navy had last summer. (Ditto to the water floaty things – I bought those last year at the end of the summer clearance sales.)

Now what I really need are three portable booster seats (I’m sick of trying to feed them while they’re wandering around when we visit friends and family) and I’m going to have to shell out the $20 x 3 that they cost. Blegh. It’s times like this when triplets are really expensive. (Kudos if anyone can find me those cheaper somewhere…)

My blog is now over back at www.pyjammy.com. So update your Google Reader and your links and all that fun stuff!

Okay, I know I just moved this blog a year ago (not even) but I’m going to be moving again. Actually, back to the old address, pyjammy.com. It’ll probably be in a couple of weeks (gotta work out the technical gobbledeegook first) but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up for now. What a pain in the rear!

So the boys spent the night at my boss’s house on Wednesday night. I dropped them off after daycare on Wednesday afternoon, then picked them up yesterday after work. Wouldn’t you know, they were perfect angels? Probably because my boss has an 11 year old daughter who dotes on them, a lot of electronics with buttons to push, and a massive TV. And two little dogs to chase after, and a bird to talk to. (Apparently, the bird started babbling like Linus after they left. Hee!)

Cute story: so my boss’s daughter, L, had all the boys sleeping in her room in their pack n plays. And she stayed up all night watching them sleep. Hoping they’d wake up so she could tend to them, but alas, they did not. At some point shortly before midnight, Oliver let out a sigh, and L seized the opportunity to make sure all was well. So she lifted him up, pried open an eyelid, and was reassured that he was fine. He slept right through it. So now, do I still have to tip-toe when I go into their room at night? Apparently not…

Okay, I’ve got to take some more pictures of them. I’m thinking of attempting to get their hair cut this weekend, we’ll see if that pans out. They desperately need them! Miles is getting mullet-y again.

Just wanted to post to say I won’t be posting much this week, if at all. I have a big work conference that I’m in charge of that starts today (and of course I tossed and turned all night long, so I’m really tired this morning, but lets just hope I can run on adrenaline today.) So I’ll be busy. And the boys will be with their grandparents for most of the rest of the week.

(I know, most pointless post ever, right? But I didn’t want anyone to think anything was wrong or anything.)

My friend Mary is an uber-talented stationary designer. Stationery. One of those. She designed my beautiful wedding invitations that we didn’t get to use (THANK YOU KATRINA) and she designed the boys’ birth announcements, which were stunning. She is just awesome.  (She has an etsy shop here, if you want to see what I’m talking about.)

She’s giving away a set of wedding invites at her blog, you just have to go and comment and stuff. They’re so pretty! I would get married all over again for these. To George again, of course.

So go to her blog and enter the contest! Her company is called Paper & Ink Studio.

(And no, I’m not getting any kickbacks for this. I wish!)

(Actually, I lie. If you go and buy stuff from her, and you’re a new customer, I get 5 free personalized notecards with matching lined envelopes. I could use those. And the offer applies to you, too. If you get her some customers, you get free stuff!)

What a week….just glad it’s nearly over. I’ve been swamped at work, and the boys (ahem, LINUS) haven’t been sleeping great. Not that I’ll get a break this weekend, but I’d rather be swamped with cute little 17 month olds than a pile of paperwork. And we’re going to hang out with Anne and Bill and Whitman tomorrow. And there will be raw oysters for lunch. So much to look forward to!

I got a haircut earlier this week, too. And I started WW yesterday. So Operation De-Shlumpify Pam has begun! Just in time for my mom’s wedding in August.

The haircut:

In sad news, please keep my friend A’s husband in your thoughts and prayers, if you are so inclined. He is very, very ill. They have several children and another on the way, which just makes it all the more awful. I am sick just thinking about it. So please, send good thoughts their way. I just saw them together a few weeks ago, and I can’t imagine this big, vital, healthy man, weak and in the ICU. It’s just too awful. So please.

So yesterday was George’s birthday (he has now embarked on the last year of his 30s mwah ha ha ha ha!) The boys and I (yeah, because they contributed financially!) got him a Flip Ultra video camera, so expect lots more videos of the boys in coming months.

Linus started wheezing again yesterday…sigh………..we gave him breathing treatments throughout the day and night (yeah, I also gave George the gift of sleep – I got up to give Linus his 1 am treatment last night) and I took him to the doctor this morning, fearing the worst…that I’d have to take him to the ER. Thank god he sounded better. Whew! Just a little congested. Another 24 hours of round-the-clock nebulizer treatments should do the trick, and then hopefully he’ll be good as new.

Okay, yeah. This is fascinating, isn’t it? Will post some pictures later…

Uh oh…the boys are no longer winning…and I need those shoes! So vote if you haven’t already for this round, and send this to all of your friends and family! Help!

http://www.multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/

Linus, Oliver, and Miles…#4

I am a good wife. A v v v v v good wife. Not only did I go see some guitar dude in concert a couple of years back (my idea of hell – and I even bought the tickets!) with George, but tonight I’m going to see the new Star Trek movie. Oh man. I am a good wife.

At least there will be popcorn involved, right? And the theaters here do sell daiquiris, so I guess it won’t be all bad.

Ha ha, just giving George a hard time (though, honestly, I’d rather sit through Star Trek ten times than that concert again. And do you know what a good wife I am? I didn’t make him go see Morrissey with me.)

I would love to post some cute pictures of the boys, but alas. I haven’t taken any lately. Oh wait, how about this one? I took Linus shopping with me yesterday to go get a gift for my friend Laurie who just had a new baby girl. We stopped by Petco to get some food for the cat, and Linus got to giggle at the gerbils. He looks so old in this picture. Gaah!

Mother’s Day is Sunday. We’re going to hit the zoo. And then maybe grill afterwards. We’ll see. I just want to go somewhere to eat with the boys. IHOP is the most likely place, since it’s okay if they yell there. And they do love pancakes. Hmm.

PS Did you vote? Don’t forget to vote! #4! LOM! You don’t have to register or anything, just click on #4 and “vote”. Easy!

Okay, the boys made the top 10! Yay! So voting has been reset. Send the link to your friends and family so we can win! (And this contest, it has to be said, is WAY more fair than that other stupid contest that Oliver was entered in. This one, you can only vote ONCE. Not a gajillion times.)

So here’s where you go to vote… http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/

And remember, vote for Linus, Oliver, and Miles. Don’t be swayed by some of the other cuties there. And there are some. I even feel bad asking you to vote for my kids when I know a lot of the other kids in the contest. But a mama’s gotta do what she’s gotta do.

The boys are 17 months old today. How did the time go by so fast? No idea. Next month they’ll be 18 months old. Only a month older, but it seems like such a big milestone. Crikey.

Now, onto a recap of the weekend. Friday afternoon, while we’re getting ready to put the boys to bed, my friend Alicia calls. She’s the one with the quad girls who share a bday with the boys. She has two free tickets to the Zoo-to-do, a really fancy fundraiser at the zoo here. I think the tickets are $150 each or something. Free food, free booze, and it’s a lovely evening, so I agree. Even though it means I have to shave my legs for the first time in god knows how long.

I get dressed, go to her house, and we head to the zoo. Oh man! It was amazing. Tons of restaurants (I mean, maybe 100? or more?) had stations set up around the zoo with food and drinks. The good stuff, too. Alicia’s husband is the executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton here, and he was there at the Ritz’s table, so he got us the tickets. We ate our way around the zoo, and I had a few fancy drinks. (Alicia’s pregnant with her fifth girl, so I had to drink for three. I kid. Sorta.)

Anyway, even though I was tired and still slightly sick from my cold, I had a great time. That was fun.

Not fun was not sleeping well that night, having babies crying all.night.long, and getting up early on Saturday with them. Alas.

Saturday was okay. Nothing terribly exciting. After the boys took their morning nap, we took them to the park to run around. But it was hot and sunny and there are stinging caterpillars everywhere at this time of year, and they were cranky, cranky, cranky. So that was kind of a bust. Went home, put them down for a nap, and they wouldn’t sleep, even though they were exhausted. Miles just screamed. I went and got him after about 10 minutes, and the front of his shirt was soaked from tears and drool. (Did I mention they’re getting what appears to be all four molars at once? I just loooooooooove having identical triplets who get all their teeth simultaneously!!!!!!! Nooooo I’m not being sarcastic who meeeee??)

So we said, screw the nap, and went for a walk. They had fun running around outside at our friend’s pizza place, but there were still plenty of random tears. Sigh. Went home, put them to bed. Linus wouldn’t sleep. He was inconsolable. Finally, for the first time ever (maybe, I think), I rocked him to sleep. Okay, not rocked, but he went to sleep on me, and I put him to bed. This is what one misses out on by having triplets.

Oh yeah, I also trimmed the back of their hair. I did an okay job. At least it doesn’t look as scraggly now.

After they went to bed, I went grocery shopping. Man, I was just beat.

Had some crying babies again that night, so no good sleep for mama and daddy, either.

Sunday, the morning was fine. I made pancakes with applesauce and cinnamon in them, and the boys ate them up. I also gave them yogurt with blueberries, and I let them go to town with their spoons. It was a mess. After their nap, we walked to our friend’s pizza place (yes, again), and had “breakfast”. Really, it’s breakfast food at lunchtime. Lots of friends were there, and the boys had fun playing and eating lunch. We weren’t sure what to do for the rest of the day, and some of them were heading to an air show at a Navy base nearby, so we decided to take the boys.

Even though we literally parked at one end of a runway and had to walk the entire length of it (pulling the wagon) to get to the air show (and back) and the boys were terrified by the loud airplanes, and I didn’t have earplugs for anyone…it was pretty fun. At least we weren’t going stir-crazy inside the house.

Last night’s sleep was punctuated by more Linus crying. And of course, when I went in their room this morning to change them, Oliver and Miles (who slept fine) were crabby, and Linus was a little ray of freaking sunshine. Kids!

And now, some pictures!

We let them go in our room this morning. It’s normally off-limits. Can you tell they were excited?

We’re also teaching them how to go up the stairs. With us right behind, of course.

The wagon at the airshow with the sun umbrellas I got for it

At the park with Daddy

We saw a lot of this, this weekend. Sigh.

Cool dude with sunglasses

Last week at daycare, I dressed them alike one day. I never do that.

Babies need some new shooooooes!

Okay, this is a lot better contest than the last one I put Oliver in. This ones for multiples only, so all three of my sweet boys are entered in one picture. So you know what to do….

Vote for us! (Unless, of course, you’re reading this and your kids are entered, in which case I don’t expect you to vote for my children over yours. I certainly didn’t.)

And check out the rest of the blog, if you’re a mom of multiples (or even if you’re not!) It’s great. Lots of interviews, info, tips, giveaways, etc.

And so it begins…life with boys…

From an email I sent George yesterday, after getting a call from their teacher (Barbie) at daycare.

barbie called. linus and oliver got into fisticuffs at school over the cozy coupe. linus carjacked oliver, oliver got bump on head. linus was removed from car (as punishment), threw a hissy fit, and scratched forehead.

No doubt Miles was off to the side, orchestrating the whole thing.

To illustrate the story, here is a picture from St. Patrick’s Day at the park with a different Cozy Coupe.

There’s not a whole lot exciting going on now, but I imagine Ren’s tired of looking at herself at the top of my blog, so I’d better post again. I thought I’d post some pictures from one year ago. I often think how much our life has changed in a year, so now I want to look at photographic evidence.

But why just go back one year? Let’s go back a few!

April 27, 2006…prom! (Okay, not really. I’m older than that! We had a prom at the pub. Hee hee! I got my dress at the thrift store. Dreamy!)

Hard to see here, but George had a powder-blue suit. Nice!

April 21, 2007 (the closest I have to two years ago): George holding Amelia! Little did he know that about eight months later, he’d be holding three of these… Note the terror on his face. Ha ha ha!

(About three weeks later, I got a positive pregnancy test.)

April 21, 2008 – The boys, 4.5 months old. Ack! So tiny!

And here we are, in 2009: (April 23, to be exact)

And just for funsies, here is the fun turkey-dog-spaghetti hybrid I made for the boys…

Oliver was not so sure about them:

Fun!

Today’s post is going to be a little different. It’s not going to be about the boys, it’s going to be about my dear friend Ren. She’s going through a little rough patch right now, and I want everyone to know how awesome she is. And I want her to realize it.

Do you know Ren? If not, meet Ren… (That’s Ren on the right, by the way. Chloe, my future daughter-in-law, is on the left.)

I’ve known Ren since 1991. Or was is 1990? In any case, a long time. (Oh man, I feel old now.) I can remember the exact moment we met, too. It was Interview/Audition Weekend at Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. We were both trying to get in, and we started talking while washing our hands in the bathroom.

I was so glad that a few months later, when school started, to see Ren around. Of course, then, she was Katherine. But I haven’t called her that in years. Renny is more like it.

Here are things I love about Renny: - her beautiful golden curls. In class, I would sit behind her and pull on them and *bo-i-i-i-ng* they’d spring back. She claimed to covet my long, straight brown hair, but why? She was very dismayed when I got a perm senior year. Well, I was just trying to have hair like hers! Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out like that, so yeah, not a great decision on my part.

- her generosity. Okay, so I had this cat, right? Named Derkins (after Suzy Derkins from Calvin + Hobbes.) I got Derkins in about 1995. Ren and I were roommates in 1996-97, and when I went off to London for six months, she took care of Derkins for me.

Fast forward 12 years, and she still has Derkins. I’m pretty sure Derkins recognized who was the better mama.

She also brings us the most delicious food in times of need (when the boys were born, for instance. Never mind she had a baby only a month older than them!) Mmmm. Yum.

- her sense of humor. She threw me and our friend Kristie a surprise Armed Forces Day party one year. (It sucks that so much of our history is pre-digital-camera. I’m going to have to dig out some old pics and scan them.)

- she WROTE A BOOK! And got a fancy New York City agent because of that book! Life got in the way of it getting published, but I’ve read it, and I promise, it’s awesome. One day it will get published.

- she is an awesome mama. She doesn’t stress about things, and whenever I have baby questions, I always call her first. I want to be the kind of mom she is – goes with the flow, lets her kids be themselves and is just generally pretty zen about everything. This has resulted in two awesome little girls that are going to grow up to be amazing women. (And at least one of which, as mentioned before, will marry one of my boys. It’s GOT to happen! How cool would that be? Hee!)

(From the looks of this, it’ll probably be Miles.)

(or maybe Linus)

- she loves my boys. Whenever we go out with them, she likes to pretend they’re hers. (And let’s face it, they look more like her than me!) I’ve got to stop answering peoples’ questions for her, though. It ruins the game. Heh.

Oh, this is too hard. I keep remembering all of our stories. Like…

- Our time living together. That was fun. She put up with my messiness. I was so groggy in the mornings before class, I would make coffee but forget to put the coffee pot underneath. Oops! (I still get teased for that!) - Visiting her (and some other friends) in London when she had her 6-month stint there. - Visiting her in Natchitoches when she was in college there. - Environmental Issues class in high school and the video we made. It involved an interpretive dance about billboards on the interstate, set to “Rump Shaker”. (No, I don’t remember what grade we got for that!) - Working at Daiquiri Cafe together (which, unfortunately, ended badly for her, getting robbed and locked in the cooler. Hmm. And I got her that job. Hmm. I didn’t say they were all good memories!) - Being pregnant together.

Here she is in the middle at 32 weeks pregnant, looking much tinier than I was at 24 weeks. Oh yeah. I had three. Ha.

Oh, there is so much more. Almost 20 years of memories. I was so happy when she moved back to Louisiana after being in Virginia for a few years.

Anyway, I could go on and on. But tomorrow is Ren’s birthday, so if you know Ren, leave her a birthday message!

Yay! Over at the new multiples blog I posted about yesterday, I won a Starbucks gift card! Yippee! I never ever buy coffee, and at home I drink the cheap, store-brand stuff. So this is an extra special treat for me. Yay!

A fellow triplet mama friend helped start up a new site for moms of multiples (yes, twins included, heh) so be sure to check it out! It’s Multiples….and more and they’re giving away tons of stuff this week.

Go visit!

Oh yeah, and there’s going to be a cutest multiples contest, so if you’re wondering why there’s a picture of the boys at 12 months over there in my flickr photostream, that’s why. It’s my entry.

Well, two anyway.

Yesterday when I went to pick up the boys from daycare, I was happily surprised to see that they’d done their first artwork! They did fingerpainting on half the page, then it was folded in half to do a mirror image (and presumably blot up some of the excess paint applied by the overexuberant artists.)

Oliver was relatively restrained:

Miles went all out:

And Linus…well, Linus:

Aww!

So I had a fun weekend with the boys. We went to Baton Rouge. I hung out with my cousins. (My baby cousin Molly has this gorgeous condo that I’m thinking of moving into. Maybe we can be squatters. She works a lot. She might not even notice. Yeah!)

We went to a baby shower for a high school friend who’s having twins. The boys were pretty well-behaved. We went with Ren, who kept them quiet by feeding them petit fours. Miles walked up to a group of older ladies, stood around with them while they chatted, then raised him arms up, demanding to be picked up. Of course he was indulged. How could one resist? (I suspect the fact that they were standing near the petit four tray had something to do with his desire to be picked up.)

But mostly, we hung out at Grandee and Larry’s house. It’s loads of fun for babies.

They loved standing at the backdoor waiting for Larry’s dog Snoopy to come by. (Yes, Linus and Snoopy. V cute, yes?) Then they’d either yell ‘CAT CAT CAT CAT!!!!” or “QUACK QUACK QUACK QUAAAACK!!!” at her.

And then Linus got her!

Running around the backyard

Sweet Oliver

Grandee, can we go outsiiiiiide??

Grandee also has a nice kitchen with lots of drawers in which to smush our fingers:

Now, off the subject. Anyone have any suggestions for recipes? Things that are easy and inexpensive to make? That the boys might eat? That don’t have celery in them? I need to branch out.